Fourth Century - The Council of Nicea 325 AD

The Council of Nicea - 325 AD
There are many erroneous things written, said, and repeated about the famous Council of Nicea. For example, it was not:
- the beginning of the "Catholic Church"
- when Christianity decided Jesus was divine
- when the New Testament was made official
- controlled by Emperor Constantine

Things were not decided by a vote. No vote on the trinity. No vote on the official biblical text. No vote on gnostic gospels. Christianity was not made the official religion.

The goal here is to report what the sources tell us about this historic council. I am using these these ancient writers: Eusebius of Caesarea (4th century), Rufinus (4th), Sozomen (5th) and Socrates Scholasticus (5th). I am also using these modern scholars: Charles Odahl, Henry Chadwick, Hans Lietzmann and Peter Leithart.

Constantine's role in the Council of Nicea
In 324 AD the temporary truce between Licinius and Constantine came to an end. Constantine defeated Licinius in battle and became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Almost immediately Constantine began receiving reports that the bishops and churches in Egypt were in disarray. He had been told about the conflict between Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, and Arius, a presbyter.

In addition to being Pontifex Maximus, by definition the "Greatest Priest" for all religions in the Empire, Constantine had begun to see himself as something like Plato's philosopher-King, the emperor who was also the spiritual leader of the Church. He had tried (and failed) to help solve the Donatist crisis and now he was made aware of a situation in Egypt - the crisis with Arius. He dispatched Hosius, a bishop from Spain, to try to reconcile bishop Alexander and Arius.

Constantine had put down all contenders and, in his view, brought the Empire to a place of peace. Shortly after bringing the Empire to "peace" he was confronted with the Donatus crisis in North Africa. Now he is made aware of another crisis - this one is theological in nature. Constantine determined to call a "worldwide" council to bring peace to the Church.

Messengers were sent all around the empire, inviting bishops to come to a monumental council. Initially the council was slated to be in Ancyra, but Constantine moved it to his summer retreat in Nicea. Around 220 bishops attended (some brought other officials as well) mostly from the eastern churches. Only around eight officials came from western churches - Rome sent only two presbyters.

As the council progressed it became obvious to the bishops that Constantine understood Greek. He nodded as bishops spoke and even interjected comments into the air from time to time. According to Socrates, Constantine chided bishop Acesius for his rigid stance (related to second repentance), saying "Place a ladder, Acesius, and climb alone into heaven." It impressed the bishops to see that the emperor was engaged and appeared to follow the various theological and doctrinal discussions.

Theological Debate
It is clear in retrospect that Constantine was more concerned with attaining peace and unity in the Church than he was with theology or doctrine. Three men who had been excommunicated in a previous smaller council, including Eusebius of Caesarea, were readmitted with little debate. These men had been disciplined for their views on the relationship of Jesus to the Father - the same issue which had driven Constantine to call the Council of Nicea to decide what to do with the views of Arius. Eusebius was allowed to read a simple baptismal formula for his defense which Constantine urged the bishops to accept without debate.

Despite the urging of emperor for peace, accusations were thrown about and Arius was called upon to present his views and defend himself. As Arius explained his position on the nature of Jesus some of the bishops actually plugged their ears, unwilling to listen. In the end a vote was taken to decide if Arius was to be allowed to remain in his position - it was a unanimous vote against Arius with two bishops abstaining. The views of Arius were condemned. It is important to realize that this vote was not a vote on the divinity of Jesus, or the trinity, but specifically on the views of Arius and whether or not he would be allowed to stay in his position.

Constantine insisted that the term homoousias be used in a creedal formula from the council that would definitively state the universal position of the Church. Some have stated that Constantine pushed for this term being influenced by the pro-Origenists. It must be remembered that homoousias had been used some 70 years prior by Dionysius of Alexandria in his trinitarian debate against Dionysius of Rome. It was NOT a new term. The use of the term had been marginalized because it was not found in the NT scriptures. Lietzmann calls this "amateurish theology" on the part of the emperor, but admits that the term had previously been employed not only by Dionysius, but by Paul of Samosata as well.

Here is the important thing to remember: the Church was attempting to bring clarity to the issue of exactly how the nature of Jesus was related to the nature of the Father. This had always been simply stated as in John's gospel, "In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God" - Logos theology. The problem was always in the explanation. We have seen at various points how writers of the first few centuries had affirmed these concepts more simply: see the section on Ignatius of Antioch for a good example. When men like Paul of Samosata or Arius espoused anything that did not seem to fit the established understanding, others would argue against them and definitions were pushed further. One might wish that everything could be simple, but in the end the great thinkers of the Church were trying to understand and explain what has always been considered a mystery. How could God take on the form of a man...and die? For some it seems to go against logic.

In the end the teaching of Arius was condemned, a creed was drafted (with perhaps too much attention on the views of Arius), and some 20 canons were passed. Among the more important canons were an agreement of when to celebrate Easter and more regulations on how bishoprics were to operate.

The Date of Easter
When to celebrate Easter, the resurrection day of Jesus, had always been somewhat controversial. Eastern churches had always followed the Jewish calendar, celebrating on the Sunday following Passover. The Western churches followed the Roman calendar which could never be matched exactly with the Jewish calendar which added a lunar month every four years or so determined by the Sanhedrin. Thus, the Western church Easter celebration had a different cycle with fixed dates set by regional leadership. The canon from Nicea made it forbidden to "celebrate with the Jews," pointing to the undercurrent of anti-Jewish sentiment we have seen in earlier centuries.

Canons on bishoprics had been given a good deal of attention at the Council of Arles and at almost every council we have recorded. Now Nicea continued this tradition. Indeed, with Meletius and Donatus appointing their own bishops and other contentious and dubious appointments, the "orthodox" bishops saw this as an important part of governing the growing church. For example,